The Origin of The Hunt: The 15th Anniversary of Castlevania: Lament of Innocence

The Origin of The Hunt: The 15th Anniversary of Castlevania: Lament of Innocence 
October 5, 2018
By Ryan Porzl

North American Cover

European Cover

Japanese Cover

Every story and every legend has a beginning and even a franchise like Castlevania is no exception. For nearly two decades, fans enjoyed the neverending adventure between the Belmont family & Count Dracula with various members of the Belmont family taking up the vampire killer whip to slay Dracula whenever he was resurrected over the centuries. However, many must have asked how and when did this rivalry start? Did Dracula have a connection with a Belmont? Where did Dracula come from? How did the Belmonts get the vampire killer? Where did such a powerful whip come from? Why did the Belmonts decide to become vampire hunters? How MANY centuries has this been going on? In 2003, Konami would finally answer all those questions with the release of Castlevania: Lament of Innocence and in celebration of it's 15th anniversary, we'll take a look at how it all began. Keep in mind, there will be spoilers so don't read on if you don't want to be spoiled.



Characters
Leon Belmont- The main protagonist. A member of the Belmont family, great knight, and baron who teamed with Mathias Cronqvist to battle in the name of God forming an invincible combination combining Leon's skills with Mathias' genius. Leon was a powerful knight and revered as the most powerful at the time. In 1094, Leon's betrothed Sara Trantoul is kidnapped by a vampire named Walter Bernhard which resulted in Leon casting aside his title and venturing to Walter's castle with the hope of saving her but not before being giving a powerful alchemy whip by alchemist Rinaldo Gandolfini which became the vampire killer. Leon is the first vampire hunter in the Belmont family.

Mathias Cronqvist- An intelligent tactician and good friend of Leon who fought along side him in the name of God combining Mathias' brilliance & Leon's fighting abilities to create an unbeatable team. Along with his intelligence, Mathias was also a skilled alchemist. Upon returning from a mission, Mathias finds out his wife Elisabetha had unexpectedly passed away leaving him bed ridden and overcome with grief. Angered at God for taken the one who he cared about the most after all the years of fighting in God's name, he decides to manipulate everyone in an attempt at reaching a power that would allow him to defy God.

Rinaldo Gandolfini- An alchemist who lives in a cabin in the forest near Walter's castle. Rinaldo has a history with Walter as he lost his daughter to him after he cursed her with vampirism which then led to her murdering Rinaldo's wife and son. Rinaldo created the alchemy whip and was forced to use it against his daughter. He later confronted Walter but wasn't able to touch him. He is allowed to live by Walter due to Walter's love of a challenge so he allows Rinaldo to help his victims in an effort to raise the stakes in Walter's "games". During the game, he helps Leon by giving him the powerful alchemist whip which he eventually transforms into the vampire killer and sells him items throughout the game.

Walter Bernhard- The main antagonist. An ancient and powerful vampire with a love for challenges. Driven by boredom due to the eternal life that vampires possess, he spends most of his time playing life and death games with brave humans by finding a target and stealing the most important thing or person in that target's life. Along with controlling the castle for which the game takes place in, Walter also controls the forest surrounding it preventing people from leaving upon entering it while also keeping the forest area nighttime all the time thanks to the ebony stone which earned the forest the name "Eternal Night". Walter abducts Sara in the hopes of luring Leon into his castle and a possible battle. Due to his arrogance and love for challenges, he allows his opponents opportunities to beat him such as allowing Rinaldo to live and help any opponent before journeying into the castle in order to raise the stakes. Walter is very powerful, not only in magic, but is able to create a barrier that prevents attacks or weapons from touching him thanks to the ebony stone.

Sara Trantoul- Leon's betrothed who is abducted by Walter Bernhard before the events of the game which leads to Leon venturing to the eternal night forest and Walter's castle in the hopes of rescuing her.

Joachim Armstar- A former human who became a vampire thanks to Walter. Originally, Joachim had served Walter but eventually had a desire to eventually overthrow Walter and take over. He eventually challenged Walter but because of Walter being in possession of the ebony stone, he stood no chance and Walter defeated him with little effort. However, Walter would spare him and wanting to show his superiority, he imprisoned Joachim in the Dark Palace of Waterfalls in the castle and sealed one of the keys to his sanctum. Joachim was trapped there due to a waterfall with water being like acid to vampires and becomes insane due to hunger. When confronted by Leon, he hopes to not only kill him but drain his blood in the hopes it would give him the strength to enact revenge.

Death- The Grim Reaper himself and a being of divine powers. He was created due to chaos and the evil in the hearts of humans. He wears a cloak, has the face of a skull, and wields a scythe. His powers includes taking the souls of the dead and can offer them to others. Death is supposed to be a servant of Walter but his true allegiance is to whoever holds the crimson stone.

Plot
Baron Leon Belmont is a powerful and respected knight who formed an unbeatable combination with fellow knight and good friend Mathias Cronqvist to fight heretics in the name of God. A year before the events of the game, the two returned from a battle only to find out Mathias' wife Elisabetha died unexpectedly leaving Mathias crippled with grief and bedridden. In 1094, Leon's betrothed Sara Trantoul is kidnapped. Upon finding out who is behind it, Leon relinquished his title and heads to the eternal night forest and a castle to rescue her. After entering the forest, Leon meets an alchemist named Rinaldo Gandolfini who tells him that he is now trapped in the forest. He tells him the castle belongs to a powerful vampire named Walter Bernhard who usually overcomes boredom thanks to his immortality by playing life and death games with humans. He usually finds a formidable opponent, takes something or someone that matter's most to them, and lures them to his castle which explains why Walter took Sara as she mattered most to Leon. He allows Rinaldo to live in order to help as it raises the stakes in Walter's game. Rinaldo gives Leon the whip of alchemy and enchants his gauntlet which allows him to absorb energies from enemies after blocking certain attacks. Leon then can use the energy to use certain items he acquires. Leon enters the castle and fights his way through collecting many items and keys in the hope of reaching Walter.

During all this, he learns new things including two powerful stones called the ebony stone & the crimson stone with the ebony stone being able to create eternal night to the area surrounding it which would enhance the power of vampires due to the night while the crimson stone controls Death and can trap the soul of a powerful vampire and give that power to the one who possesses it but at the cost of their humanity. Leon then asks about the possibility of the whip's full potential but Rinaldo tells Leon to forget about it. Eventually, Leon confronts Walter who recognizes Rinaldo's whip. Leon demands Sara back but when he tries to strike Walter, the power of the ebony stone allows Walter to create a barrier that prevents Leon from touching him. Walter gives back Sara and it appears to be over but when they head to Rinaldo's, Sara is struck and rendered unconscious by the barrier surrounding the home. Rinaldo reveals that this means Sara is cursed with vampirism and though she isn't right now, she will lose her humanity. Leon at first refuses to believe it but accepts it and asks what needs to be done. The only way to cure her is to defeat Walter immediately but Leon tells Rinaldo that the whip didn't work. Rinaldo then reveals there's only one way to complete the whip and that would require killing Sara as they would need a tainted soul that can trust Leon and one he can trust. Sara overhears it but eventually agrees to it as she doesn't want anyone else to go through this and feels her humanity slipping away. Leon reluctantly agrees so Rinaldo begins a ceremony which concludes with Leon striking Sara with the whip while vowing no one will suffer like her. This turns the whip into the vampire killer but kills Sara. Leon buries Sara and returns to the castle to confront Walter in his throne room.

The power of the vampire killer is shown immediately when Leon strikes Walter which shatters the ebony stone and leaves Walter vulnerable. Realizing his life was now in danger, Walter began attacking Leon and the two fought throughout Walter's throne room but Leon perseveres and slays him. With Walter dying, Leon tells him to carve Sara's suffering and Rinaldo's grief into his cursed body and parish. Walter said he would return and while he could not obtain the crimson stone, it would be his but after saying this, Death emerges. Walter realizes he's been betrayed as Death takes his soul and offers it to "the king who wields the crimson stone". The soul goes through a portal which then formed into a red stone before it breaks. When the dust settled, Mathias is in the room and says he never spent a better night. Leon is surprised and asks what's the meaning of it. Mathias says he needed a powerful vampire's soul and admits he not only used Leon but Sara, Rinaldo, & Walter. Leon notices the stone Mathias is wearing and realizes it's the crimson stone which impresses Mathias and admits he made Walter's soul his with it. Leon senses rage in the whip and realizes Mathias is a vampire with Mathias claiming he is and did it to get revenge on God.

He brings up how they have sacrificed everything in the name of God only for God to steal the one he cared for the most when all he wanted was Elisabetha's safety and says if limited life is God's decree then he shall defy and with his eternal life, he shall curse him forevermore. Mathias then tells Leon that he should understand after everything he's gone through to which Leon agrees and Mathias offers him to be a vampire but Leon refuses. Mathias' asks if he is wrong and asks didn't Leon kill Walter with hate in his heart which Leon admits and say he'd be lying if he claimed otherwise but defeating him and preventing others from suffering the same fate was Sara's last wish that granting her last wish is all he could do and that eternity without her would be nothing but emptiness. Disappointed, Mathias said he'd thought Leon would understand. He notices dawn coming and bids farewell to Leon before siccing Death on Leon and flies away as a bat. Leon yells to stop but Death sends him to another world and the two battle but the outcome is the same as Leon vanquishes Death. Death is surprised but Leon says despite Death's powers being divine, he has the power to destroy all related to the vampires. Death says he will return and Leon tells him to give Mathias a message which is he will never forgive him that his whip and kinsmen will destroy him someday and from this day on, the Belmont clan will hunt the night. Death then dies and Leon escapes the castle before it's destroyed. Rinaldo then sees sunrise for the first time in a long time and realizes Leon did it. In the epilogue, it's revealed the Belmonts and Mathias wouldn't meet again for hundreds of years and that Mathias went into hiding in foreign lands cursing god. As time went by, he eventually names himself Dracula, lord of vampires and the king of the night.

Gameplay
Castlevania: Lament of Innocence plays with a hack n' slash format similar to the Devil May Cry & Ninja Gaiden series. It also features RPG elements as well with the player able to purchase armor for Leon at certain points, buy & equip relics that enhance Leon's strength & defense, and items such as potions. Leon can also sort of level up in the game by learning new whip techniques after killing a certain number of enemies. These techniques can be pulled off with a certain button combination. A lot of familiar stuff from past Castlevania games come back. Like most Castlevania games, sub weapons are back and they're the usual ones that have appeared in previous installments such as knife, cross, holy water, crystal and ax. Another are save rooms that are scattered throughout the castle. Save rooms are the only way the player can save their game while also refilling Leon's HP & MP. Finally, there's items that can extend Leon's hit points, magic points, and heart counter like HP Max Up, MP Max Up, & Heart Max Up. The player can also gain money by defeating enemies which can be used to buy items at Rinaldo's cabin. Like almost all Castlevania games, players not only get sub weapons but must use hearts in only to use the subweapons and like other games, hearts can be found whipping candles and other objects scattered throughout the castle.

The object of the game is for the player to explore the castle and defeat Walter. Before being able to reach Walter in the Pagoda of the Misty Moon, the player must explore five different areas of the castle which are House of the Sacred Remains, Ghostly Theater, Dark Palace of Waterfalls, Garden Forgotten by Time, & Anti-Souls Mystery Lab. Each level can be accessed in a room of the castle which contain five transporters which takes the player to that area. The player must fight their way through that area which contains different enemies as well as items and relics to collect. At the end of each area contains a boss the player must fight. If successful, the player will collect a different colored orb which are blue (House of the Sacred Remains), red (Anti-Souls Mystery Lab), purple (Garden of Forgotten Time), green (Dark Palace of Waterfalls), & yellow (Ghostly Theater). These orbs can serve as keys to unlocking the way to the pagoda. These orbs can also be equipped which give Leon's subweapons different powers and even item crashes which unleash hidden power of the subweapons. Two other orbs which are white & black can be collected with black being in a optional area called Prison of Eternal Torture which contains arguably the hardest boss in the game called Forgotten One who holds the black orb. However, the white & black orb along with fighting Forgotten One are optional and the player doesn't need to do these things to beat the game. Along with the main quest, the player can also find elemental monsters to fight which are fire elemental, ice elemental, & thunder elemental. After defeating them, the player will be able to get special whips like the whip of fire, whip of ice, and whip of lightning respectively. These whips each have strengths and weaknesses as they take more damage from an enemy who are weak to that element but little damage against enemy strong against that element. Like the white & black orbs, these are optional and the player isn't required to get these whips to beat the game. Even after beating an area of the castle, the player can return there if they want especially to collect items they missed. The player can also leave the castle at anytime and return to Rinaldo's cabin for more supplies.

Along with the main game, two modes can also be unlocked. One is Joachim mode where the player controls Joachim and the second is Pumpkin mode where the player controls Pumpkin. Joachim mode is unlocked after the player beats the game and then enters @JOACHIM on the name entry screen. In Joachim mode, Joachim is playable but unlike Leon, Joachim can't equip items like armor & relics or carry items such as potions. Joachim is physically weaker than Leon so that along with the other things make the mode harder but he is faster and has powerful magic attacks. There's no cutscenes except at the end with Joachim becoming lord of the castle while the images shown in the credits are different compared to Leon's. Pumpkin mode can only be unlocked after the player beats Joachim mode. Pumpkin is a character with a stitched up doll like body and a jack-o-lantern head while clearly being a comedy character. Like Leon, Pumpkin can wield the vampire killer as a weapon. He has little health but is very strong. Pumpkin later appears in Curse of the Moon.

Behind the Scenes
Castlevania: Lament of Innocence was directed and produced by Koji Igarashi who had been involved in almost every Castlevania from 1997's Castlevania: Symphony of the Night to 2010's Castlevania: Harmony of Despair. The illustrator was Ayami Kojima who also started with the series with Symphony of the Night and worked on several games through Harmony of Despair. The game was composed by Michiru Yamane who had worked on Castlevania games on and off between 1994's Castlevania Bloodlines to 2008's Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia while also working on the Rocket Knight series for Konami. Because this game explored the origins of the series, much of the crew were inspired by that with the game being released in Japan and Australia as simply Castlevania which Igarashi claimed was because Lament of Innocence was a new starting point for the series. This marked the fourth time a Castlevania was released in Australia under the "Castlevania" title after the original, the Nintendo 64 game (a.k.a. Castlevania 64), and Castlevania: Circle of the Moon. Another thing was Yamane deviating from tradition of arranging many classic themes and instead decided to come up with a completely new soundtrack with few arrangements since the game was an origin game.

Lament of Innocence marked the third Castlevania game to be 3D after 1999's Castlevania (or Castlevania 64) & 1999's Castlevania: Legacy of Darkness and the first to be released on the Playstation 2 with 2005's Castlevania: Curse of the Moon following. Originally, Igarashi envisioned the game's concept with "fully connected rooms" but this became a problem when it affected the accessibility of the map and made some of the puzzles more difficult. Igarashi then decided to divide the map into separate ones for each area and the puzzles would be contained in their areas. Igarashi planned to have "extend a 2D style into a 3D game", the 3D environments proved different as they possessed less precision. Igarashi said creating 2D games were easier since the player would have an easier time understanding the elements such the monster's location and where to attack and run. In spite of this, Igarashi still enjoyed the 3D graphics as he felt it created a "reality-based environment" in gaming. Lament of Innocence was finished ahead of schedule which allowed the team to refine the game's elements. According to Igarashi, this made the game more difficult as they came more accustomed to it.

For the second time with the first being Bloodlines, Konami borrowed from Dracula for their story specifically the 1992 Francis Ford Coppola film Bram Stroker's Dracula. Like the movie, Dracula was once a human hundreds of years ago who fought in God's name only to return from a mission to find his wife having died which result in him renouncing his faith and being driven mad. His wife's name was also Elisabetha though the name was spelled different in Elisabeta.

Release
Castlevania: Lament of Innocence was released on the Playstation 2 on October 21, 2003 in North America, November 27, 2003 in Japan as Castlevania, February 13, 2004 in Europe, & February 20, 2004 in Australia also as Castlevania. The Japanese release also saw a limited edition version released simultaneously which featured an oil painting from Kojima, a music CD, and a calendar with seven pages of illustrations. The game largely received positive reviews with Metacritic scoring it a 79/100, 1UP.com & Play both scored it a B+, Edge & Game Informer both scored it a 8/10, GamePro scored it a perfect 5 out of 5 stars, GameSpot scored it a 7.7 out of 10, GameSpy scored it a 3 out of 5 stars, GameZone & IGN scored it 9/10, & OPM (US) scored it 4 out of 5 stars. The game would be awarded IGN's Editor's Choice Award. The opinions was largely the same as far as positives and negatives. The positives was the gameplay itself as it was considered simple, fun, and not complex, the plot of the story, the graphics, details in the game, the soundtrack for the most part, and the game transitioning the franchise from it's 2D roots to 3D. The negative was on it's repetition in the castle's many rooms and hall ways, the difficulty in finding secret items, the lack of a complete map for the castle, the length of the game, and the fact you had to find and use inventory items during battle instead of going to a menu screen to select and use items like potions. The camera angles and voice acting received mixed reviews as some liked the camera while others thought didn't help during the platform parts while the voice acting was considered by some to be good while others thought it was overdone and others hated it.

Aftermath
Since it's 2003 release, Castlevania: Lament of Innocence has only been re-released once when it was re-released on the Playstation Network on August 22, 2012 in Japan and on June 18, 2013 in North America. Despite the game being about the origins of the Belmonts & Dracula, Leon Belmont hasn't appeared in other games as a playable character like the fighting game Castlevania: Judgment or as a DLC character in Castlevania: Harmony of Despair and no sequels to Lament of Innocence have been made. Leon does appear in Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin as Jonathan Morris & Charlotte Aulin can summon him as part of the Greatest Five attack along with Trevor C. Belmont, Simon Belmont, Juste Belmont, & Richter Belmont.